That afternoon we had been shopping in Enfield - I didn’t think too much about it as T-Mobile suddenly closed and pulled down its shutters at about 3pm. The shops were being warned Enfield was the target that night, for rioting and looting. It seemed it had changed from rioting for a cause, to looting for fun. That evening we saw and heard many police sirens – at one point a string of about 10 police cars in a row, going down the street outside, sirens blaring, lights flashing, on their way to Enfield. There were also helicopters in the sky. Charlotte got very scared and didn’t want to be left alone in bed.
The following night, about 3 miles away, the big Sony warehouse was set on fire – a day later we could still see a cloud of black smoke. By now the rioting had spread to towns all over London, and at least 10 cities throughout England, and as the police struggled to keep up with it, the looters went on a field day. Many people were afraid to venture out.
Over the next few days, the area changed – shops shutting early, shop windows all boarded up, and police everywhere (including cycling around and many cops back on the beat.) Order seemed to have been restored.
